I woke up early as the sun began to shine through the crack at the side of the curtains. It was about 6:15am and I got up to snap a couple of sunrise pictures despite the fact I was nursing a slight holiday hangover. As I was awake I thought it might be a good idea if everyone was awake and so I fidgeted about in bed until Tracy woke up and made a lovely cup of coffee!!
We’d been warned the day before that we needed to be at the visitor center in Zion Canyon before 10am if we wanted to get a place to park before the crowds descended. As we were going on a hike up to the Emerald Pools we thought an early start would also be best so we weren’t slow cooked in the midday sun.
As we drove to the visitor center Harry and Toby announced that they’d been silly about not sleeping in their own lodge the night before and that tonight they would try again tonight and power through their anxiousness! After making our way through the darkest tunnels in the history of tunnels we were back at the canyon floor and parking the car just after 9am. After checking out the hiking trail guides we boarded the Zion Park shuttle. You have to take the shuttle here as the main part of the canyon is restricted access only. Our stop was the third or fourth one and before we knew it our hike up to the Lower, Middle and Upper pools was underway.
Our first sighting was a group of wild turkeys down by the river but beyond that this wasn’t really an animal related hike bar some tadpoles later on. The path up to the lower pool was quite straightforward and included a nice little walk under a small waterfall. We appreciated the waterfall a lot more on the way down though. With the lower pool taken care of it was onwards and upwards to the middle pool. It wasn’t too much further but the incline got a little steeper and the path a little more rocky. Harry and Toby tackled it like a pair of mountain goats and surprisingly there were very few complaints as they climbed!
The middle pool was reached and the sun burned brighter – it was definitely time to get a sweat on! The view was fantastic and the shade a welcome relief. Although it was only a small pool it was well stocked with some big fat tadpoles. Let’s hope the water doesn’t dry out before they turned into some big porky toads.
We hadn’t planned on going up to the Upper pool as the guides had said they were a bit tougher to reach however Harry said it was only another 0.4 miles and Toby was still in good spirits so off we went. The trail was definitely getting trickier and busier. The sweat was pouring but we made it. After relaxing in the shade for a few minutes we set off back down the trail. It was clearly much busier now so we did the right thing getting up a bit earlier. As we made it down to the lower pool we took a brief shower in the misty waterfalls before finishing off the hike and getting our feet back on the valley floor.
After a quick drink we caught the shuttle again to head back to the visitor center. On the way back we decided to stop at the Court of the Patriarchs as it was only a 100 yard round trip to the view point. Despite the fact that Toby had enjoyed his earlier hike this 100 yards was clearly too much and he descended into a mood and announced that he didn’t care about anything and everything!
A few minutes later the hike/short walk was complete and we were back on the shuttle. We continued on into Springdale to grab some lunch. A well deserved burger was devoured and then it was back on the bus to the car, which was showing a temperature of 103 degrees. Next stop was our ranch and some drinking and relaxing on the verandah in our rocking chairs. The hummingbird came back but still it avoided having its picture taken.
As the sun started to think about setting we went for a walk along to the buffaloes where Toby made friends with Itchy the buffalo. In just a few short minutes they developed a strong friendship and both were visibly upset when it was time for us to leave. After that it was back to the ranch and a well deserved collapsing into bed. Despite all the brave talk that morning, Harry and Toby decided to retire to their room upstairs rather than the lodge next door – much to Tracy’s relief!
Here are all the Zion National Park photos.